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Beginning PHP 5.3
Serving as a complete introduction to PHP 5.3, this book walks you through all the major concepts of PHP in a way that’s easy to follow, with plenty of code snippets illustrating each concept to aid learning. You’ll discover how to install and configure PHP 5.3, how to get started with simple programs, and the basic building blocks of PHP such as variables, operators, expressions, arrays, and objects. Coverage working with files, XML, and MySQL; building Web applications with PHP; exploring the PEAR library; handling e-mail; and creating Web graphics.
- GenresProgrammingWebNonfiction
801 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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43 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 11, 2018
Already Obsolete
10 November 2018
When I walked into my lecturer’s room to go over one of my assignments I noticed that a computer monitor was supported by a number of books, one of them being PHP 3. This is a problem with these bricks – after a certain point the only use they have is as a door stopper and a means to raise a computer monitor. Sure, one might be able to throw them into the recycling bin, but the amount of money you actually have to fork out for these books sort of means that you are not going to be all that keen on doing so. There is another problem, and that is while this book may actually help in putting you on the right track, you will eventually get to a point where using this book as a reference is no longer an option and it ends up being better to simply go onto the internet and use that as a resource, such as the webpage that just happens to be the PHP manual, or if that doesn’t work then Stack Overflow (though the guy behind the idea indicated that this is more a website for professionals as opposed to beginners).
So, what did I make of this book? Well, I managed to read it from cover to cover, which in part is surprising, but considering that there is a lot of code and sample programs in the book, which I have to admit I simply glossed over, then you could easily cut down on the amount of actual readable materials. The thing with sample code is that it is useful, and if you know what you are looking at you can quickly work out what they are trying to do, but after studying computer science for a year now, I seem to prefer to be given a problem and then having to work out how to solve that problem as opposed to simply copying code straight out of a book. Mind you, he does actually include some practice problems at the end of each chapter, though not to the extent of some of the books that I have seen.
I’m sure we’ve all heard of PHP. It is what is known as a server side language, and originally stood for ‘Personal Home Page’. From that title the idea was to develop a language that people can use to develop their own webpages. That is all well and good, except that you really need to know what you are doing to be able to use PHP – it really isn’t a language for beginners – and there is the added problem of having to develop your site using a server. Sure, there are servers that you can download onto your computer, but the fact that they create open ports that hackers can exploit sort of puts me off using that method. Actually, I guess it was fortunate that I could use the university server to build my assignment, and also that Ubuntu allows me to mount the server on my computer so that I don’t have to fiddle around with downloading and uploading it excessively. Oh, I should also point out that there are a number of websites that you can use to test out your code.
It sounds as if I haven’t said much about the book though, other than to indicate that I have basically read it from cover to cover. Gee, I’m not entirely sure if that is something that I should really be admitting. The thing is that I can’t necessarily say that it was all that useful. Sure, the lecturers do try to encourage us to buy the textbooks, but the thing is that with the internet being all pervasive these days, I sort of wonder what the use of the text books actually are. Okay, there are probably subjects, like Law, where text books are imperative, and a part of me still feels that I maybe need to at least purchase them because I don’t really want to be caught in the situation where I need them but don’t have them. However, the fact that they become obsolete so quickly, and that new editions appear almost annually, with minor changes mind you, is also incredibly painful. Oh, and second hand bookshops (if they still exist) simply will not touch them with a 10 foot barge pole. Is there a text book scam out there? Yeah, there probably is, and in many cases it is just another burdern that students have to shoulder in their attempt to obtain marketable skills for the future.
10 November 2018
When I walked into my lecturer’s room to go over one of my assignments I noticed that a computer monitor was supported by a number of books, one of them being PHP 3. This is a problem with these bricks – after a certain point the only use they have is as a door stopper and a means to raise a computer monitor. Sure, one might be able to throw them into the recycling bin, but the amount of money you actually have to fork out for these books sort of means that you are not going to be all that keen on doing so. There is another problem, and that is while this book may actually help in putting you on the right track, you will eventually get to a point where using this book as a reference is no longer an option and it ends up being better to simply go onto the internet and use that as a resource, such as the webpage that just happens to be the PHP manual, or if that doesn’t work then Stack Overflow (though the guy behind the idea indicated that this is more a website for professionals as opposed to beginners).
So, what did I make of this book? Well, I managed to read it from cover to cover, which in part is surprising, but considering that there is a lot of code and sample programs in the book, which I have to admit I simply glossed over, then you could easily cut down on the amount of actual readable materials. The thing with sample code is that it is useful, and if you know what you are looking at you can quickly work out what they are trying to do, but after studying computer science for a year now, I seem to prefer to be given a problem and then having to work out how to solve that problem as opposed to simply copying code straight out of a book. Mind you, he does actually include some practice problems at the end of each chapter, though not to the extent of some of the books that I have seen.
I’m sure we’ve all heard of PHP. It is what is known as a server side language, and originally stood for ‘Personal Home Page’. From that title the idea was to develop a language that people can use to develop their own webpages. That is all well and good, except that you really need to know what you are doing to be able to use PHP – it really isn’t a language for beginners – and there is the added problem of having to develop your site using a server. Sure, there are servers that you can download onto your computer, but the fact that they create open ports that hackers can exploit sort of puts me off using that method. Actually, I guess it was fortunate that I could use the university server to build my assignment, and also that Ubuntu allows me to mount the server on my computer so that I don’t have to fiddle around with downloading and uploading it excessively. Oh, I should also point out that there are a number of websites that you can use to test out your code.
It sounds as if I haven’t said much about the book though, other than to indicate that I have basically read it from cover to cover. Gee, I’m not entirely sure if that is something that I should really be admitting. The thing is that I can’t necessarily say that it was all that useful. Sure, the lecturers do try to encourage us to buy the textbooks, but the thing is that with the internet being all pervasive these days, I sort of wonder what the use of the text books actually are. Okay, there are probably subjects, like Law, where text books are imperative, and a part of me still feels that I maybe need to at least purchase them because I don’t really want to be caught in the situation where I need them but don’t have them. However, the fact that they become obsolete so quickly, and that new editions appear almost annually, with minor changes mind you, is also incredibly painful. Oh, and second hand bookshops (if they still exist) simply will not touch them with a 10 foot barge pole. Is there a text book scam out there? Yeah, there probably is, and in many cases it is just another burdern that students have to shoulder in their attempt to obtain marketable skills for the future.
September 11, 2010
(For some odd reason goodreads has this book as "Beginning PHP 6" when it actually is about 5.3)
I borrowed this book to rapidly get up to speed on PHP for a small project. PHP is a very easy language to learn when coming from other languages like C#.
I was glad to see the book cover some decent practices such as how to do Model-View-Controller (MVC) type patterns in PHP as well as unit testing via PHPUnit.
I borrowed this book to rapidly get up to speed on PHP for a small project. PHP is a very easy language to learn when coming from other languages like C#.
I was glad to see the book cover some decent practices such as how to do Model-View-Controller (MVC) type patterns in PHP as well as unit testing via PHPUnit.
March 18, 2014
PHP is an ugly language, although the author tried his best.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews